With the global economic crisis as a backdrop, some of the world’s leading economists will soon join us here in Washington, D.C. for two days of intense, scholarly debate. Not surprisingly, the papers submitted for the IMF’s Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference are colored by the events of the past two years.

To give you an idea, Ricardo Caballero of MIT, our keynote speaker this year, plans to tell us about the striking and terrifying similarities between a sudden cardiac arrest and a financial crisis.

The IMF’s research conference, slated to take place on November 5–6, will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Since it was first launched, the conference has become one of the main international venues for researchers and policymakers to exchange ideas. The theme of this year’s conference is “Financial Frictions and Macroeconomic Adjustment.”